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HOW WISCONSIN CAME BY ITS LARGE 
GERMAN ELEMENT 



By KATE ASAPHINE EVEREST, M. A. 
Fellow in History, in the University of Wisconsin 



Reprinted from Vol. XII. "Wisconsin Historical Collections] 




Madison, Wis. 
state histoeical society of wisconsin 

1892 



vWis. Hist, S@^ 






A^ 



HOW WISCONSIN CAME BY ITS LARGE GERMAN 

ELEMENT. 



BY KATE ASAPHINE EVEREST, M. A.' 

According to the census of 1880, the latest national cen- 
sus available for our purposes, Wisconsin has a larger per- 
centage of German-born residents than any other of the 
United States; and in its .total of German-born population 
it stands fourth. All of the census reports since 1850 show 
a decennial increase in Wisconsin, in the percentage of 
German-born, both in relation to the entire population and 
to the total foreign-born population of the State. 

' Fellow in History, in the University of Wisconsin. All foot-notes in 
this article, not otherwise signed, are by the author. See her article on 
" Early Lutheran Immigration to Wisconsin," in Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., 
Arts, and Letters, viii., pp. 288-298. — Ed. 

Author's Prefatory Note. — This work was done in connection with 
the historical seminar of the University of Wisconsin, under the direction 
of Professors Frederick J. Turner and Charles H. Haskins. For material 
and suggestions in the preparation of the paper I wish to acknowledge my 
indebtedness to Prof. W. H. Rosenstengel, Prof. Frank Cramer, formerly 
of Lawrence University, Mr. K. K. Kennan, Capt. Julius Schlaich, Hon. 
P. V. Deuster, Rev. Theodore Nickel, Hon. John J. Senn, and others. The 
bulk of material I have obtained from the rich stores of the State Histor- 
ical Society, whose library officers have throughout tendered me the utmost 
facilities for research, and have even imported books and pamphlets from 
Germany, that threw light on the subject of my investigation. I am also 
indebted to the courtesy of the officers of the Milwaukee free library for 
the use of books. In the final revision of the work, I have been greatly as- 
sisted by Mr. Reuben G. Thwaites, editor of the Wisconsin Historical Col- 
lections. 

The term " German " in this article includes German Austrians, Ger- 
man Bohemians, and German Swiss, where these classes can be ascertained. 
The census reports, however, ignore the distinction between German and 
non-German Austrians, Bohemians, and Swiss; the reports of 1850, 1870, 
1880, and 1885 do not include Swiss and Austrians, while that of 1860 in- 
cludes Austrians but not Swiss. Unless otherwise stated, the statistics of 
German population which I cite include only those born in Germany. 



WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. 



[vol. 



Xll. 



Table of German-born population, in Wisconsin. 



Census. 


German born. 


Percentage of 
entire popula- 
tion of state. 


Percentage of 

foreign -born 

population of 

state. 


1^50 


38,064 
123,879 
162,314 
184,328 
265,756 


11.3 

15.97 

15.39 

14.0 

16.99 


32.4 


I860 


44.7 


1870 


45.0 


1880 

1885 


45.0 
53.8 







This might seem to indicate a decrease since 18G0, but 
were the children of German parentage born in Wiscon- 
sin, — now comited as native American population, — in- 
cluded in these estimates, it would show very different 
results. For the first time, the census of 1880 gives us the 
natives of Wisconsin of German parentage; the number of 
those with both parents German is stated as 226,325, which 
added to the German-born gives a total of 410,053 German- 
Americans in a population of 1,315,497. or 31.2 percent.* 
Considering then the fact that in 1850 at least a large per 
cent, of the Germans in the state were born in Germany, it 
is clear that there has been a decided increase in the per- 
centage of Germans in the state. Moreover, according to 
the state census of 1885, they formed 10.99 per cent, of the 
total population, which in comparison with the 14 per cent, 
of 1880 indicates a very striking increase. 

Some further statistics will enable us to see when the 
largest numbers came to the state. Loher, writing in 1847, 
says, "For three years the immigrants have turned to 
Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin; of the 100,000 German immi- 
grants of the past year, at least 25,<'i00 have gone to Wis- 
consin."^ But we must regard these figures as very large, 
for he further estimates the number of Germans in Wis- 



' J. E. Chamberlain gives the proportion of Germans in Wisconsin in 
1880. as 35 per cent. — Century Mag., vi., p. 767. 

- Franz Loher's Geschichte unci Zustande der Deutschen in Amerika 
(Cincinnati and Leipzig, 1847), p. 278. This work is referred to below, as 
Loher. 



i853-70-J Wisconsin's German element. 5 

consin in 1846 as 100,000, and the population of the state as 
250,000.' Some state immigration reports hav^e been pub- 
lished, which, though very incomplete,' give us some idea 
of the period when the largest numbers came to Wisconsin. 

The first report which contains a definite statement of 
the number of immigrants was made in 1853 by Herman 
H?ertel, of Milwaukee, then state immigration commis- 
sioner. It was his estimate that from 16,000 to 18,000 Ger- 
mans came to Wisconsin during the eight months which 
his report covered, — figures which he states are only ap- 
proximate, — and that the German immigration of 1853 ex- 
ceeded that of the three years next preceding; and though 
the entire immigration to the United States during 1853 
had little if at all exceeded that of the year preceding, 
Wisconsin received at least 15 per cent, more than in 185'2.' 

The immigration of 1854 is said to have been the 
largest to Wisconsin.' Fred W. Horn was commissioner 
for that year, and his estimate for the months of May, 
June, and July, gathered from the number who visited 
his office, from the inspection of the books of some of 
the ticket offices, and from other means of observation, was, 
that during that period the number of German immigrants 
to Wisconsin could not have been less than 16,000. From 
information received by him in those months, he judged that 
the emigration during the summer and fall of 1854 would 
be considerable, and that Wisconsin as usual would receive 
more than her share. Apparently no further report w^as 
made until 1870. From May to November (inclusive), that 
year, the arrival in Wisconsin of Germans intending to 
settle, aggregated 0,127, of whom 7,0 37 came by way of Chi- 
cago, and 2,090 direct to Milwaukee. It was thought as 

' Jbid., p. 355. 

'Statistics were obtained for Milwaukee only, or sometimes for Chicago; 
while the northern ports were entirely neglected, and even those for Mil- 
waukee and Chicago were incomplete. 

^Governor's Mess, and Accomp. Docs., Wis., 1854. 

* Anton Eickhofl's In der neuen Heimath: GesrJiichtliche Mittheilungen 
iiber die deiitschen Einwanderer in alien Theilen der Union (New York, 
1885). 



6 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii 

many more came by way of Green Bay, Manitowoc, and 
other lake ports. 

The following statistics of arrivals of Wisconsin-bound 
Germans are obtainable from other state immigration 
reports:' 

187y * 5,190. 1880 * 8,079. 

1873 * 3,031. 1881... * 17,074. 

1874 t 3,458. 18S2 f 18,922. 

1875 1 1,479. 1883 1 17,446. 

1879 t 2,702. 1884 f 14,539. 

* For Milwaukee and Chicago (Wisconsin bound). 
t For Milwaukee only. No report for Chicago. 

The number of German-born in the state^ at each census 
from 1850 to 1885, is given in our opening table (p. 300). 
These figures show that the largest German immigration 
has been in the decades 1840 to 1850, 1850 to 18G0, and 1880 
to 189i», To be more exact, we may place the largest immi- 
gration periods in the years 1846-54, and 1881-84, which 
are not only periods that correspond to those of the greatest 
German immigration to the United States, but they are also 
the times when Wisconsin probably received a much larger 
proportion of Germans than other states. 

The causes of the presence of this large German element 
among us must be looked for, not primarily in plans to 
form a German state in the Northwest, though such plans 
have undoubtedly had their influence, but they are rather 
to be looked for in economic, political, and social influences. 
Among these were the natural advantages which this state 
possessed for Germans in the way of climate and produc- 
tiveness, the low price of lands, — due to the abundance of 
government land and the peculiar policy of the state in dis- 
posing of its land grants for schools at low prices, for the 
sake of attracting immigration, — and the opening of the 

' The report for 1873 includes the months April to November for Milwau- 
kee, and May to August for Chicago; that of 1873 is April to November for 
Milwaukee, and May to August for Chicago; 1874, April 1 to December 15; 
1875, for the calendar year; 1880, May to December 31; while those for 
1881-84 give the total for the year. 



^^33-] Wisconsin's German element. 7 

state at an opportune moment. The German spirit in music, 
politics, and social life which early showed itself, particularly 
in Milwaukee, and which had its influence in shaping a lib- 
eral state constitution, doubtless attracted the better ele- 
ments. Again, the success of the Germans who came early to 
the state, particularly those from north Germany, has served 
to draw many others from the same region; and finally, the 
state immigration agents, many of whom have been Ger- 
mans, have directed their attention chiefly to Germany, 
with some success. 

Ideal Schemes — The Effort to Form a German State. 

While the process of German immigration and settlement 
has been determined largely by practical considerations 
in regard to the forming of homes and obtaining the 
means of subsistence, there was for some .years an agita- 
tion both here and in Germany, which was intended to con- 
centrate German settlement in the United States, and to 
widen the field of German influence. This was the effort 
to form a German state in America. ' 

Since the awakening of national feeling in Germany in 
the early part of this century, there has been a growing 
desire among German patriots to preserve the national 
spirit and customs. It is peculiar to modern German emi- 
gration, that by it no territory has been added to Germany, 
and that in great part the emigrants have been lost to the 
Fatherland. Accordingly, it has been a problem with many 
recent German writers on economics and colonization, how 
to prevent this apparent misfortune, and to this end various 
plans have been proposed. 

Societies were formed in Germany with the object of 
making organized settlements under the direction of chosen 
leaders. The most important of these was at Giessen. This 

' To this term two meanings seem to have been given: first, it meant a 
German settlement with its own local government, which was designed to 
become the centre of a large German element; again, it was more com- 
monly used to refer to some one of the United States which was to be 
Germanized. 



8 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii. 

society was formed in 1833, its membersliip embracing sev- 
eral hmidred persons in Hesse, Westphalia, and the 
Saxonies, among them many wealthy and educated men. 
In 1834 a larg« delegation from this company crossed to 
America in two ships, intending to form a new Germany 
beyond the seas. They possessed abundant resources for 
carrying out their plan, but the enterprise failed on account 
of the inexperience of the leaders, and their ignorance, not 
only of the new country, but of practical life in general. 
Many left at each stopping place west of the seaboard. The 
remnant settled near St. Louis. The bell which they brought 
for their proposed stadt haus was hung up in a barn, and 
the fine telescope for the intended observatory was left to 
grace a log cabin." 

As a consequence of disappointment attending the polit- 
ical reaction in Germany after the uprising of 1830, many 
sought liberty in America. In 1832, in Rhenish Bavaria, it 
was plannerl to send a deputation to the United States to 
communicate with our government in regard to purchas- 
ing a tract of land to be settled by Germans and to ba 
called a new Germany.' But I cannot learn that anything 
came of the project. 

On this side of the ocean, the agitation of the question of 
a German state in North America began about 1835. The 
immigration that commenced in the early thirties in- 
cluded many educated young men of every profession in 
Germany, who were largely political refugees. The new 
atmosphere into which they came vvas in strong contrast 
with their aspirations. They felt the American life to be 
sordid and low, both in religion and politics ; they complained , 
too, of a lack of appreciation of the higher ideals, and a 
tendency to ignore the worth of the German character. 



' Loher, p. 278. 

- Niles^s Register, xliii. , pp. 196 et seq. The comment is as follows 
" We shall give all such as these a hearty welcome, but the idea of settling 
in a large and compact body cannot be approved. In coming hither they 
should expect that their children, at least, will * * * be fully incor- 
porated into the body of citizens." See also Neumann's GescMchte der 
Vereinigten Staaten, ii., p. 496. 



DOUGLAS 
13.^68 



BURNETT 



i, 303 



WASHBUR 
2. 926 



_r 



PO LK 
/2..WS 



BARRON 
15. /fW 



T.CROIX 
23. 139 



DUNN 
22.66'i 



= 1ERCE 
20.385 



PEPIN 




Through au o 
populatiou as asc€ 
counties in the ac< 
author's computat 
is based on the Ce 



GERMAN POPUUTION OF WISCONSIN 

/kOCOROINS TO U. 8. OBNSUS OF 1880. 

■^^^ In these counties Germane number from 

^^^^B 15 to 30 per cent of the entire population. In 
the aggregate, tliey contain 66.9 per cent of 
the entire German population of the state. 

^^^^1 Prom U to 14 per cent German. 

From 8 to 10 per cent German. 

Counties left blank are less than 8 per cent 
German. 




iS35~36-l Wisconsin's German element. g 

Such sentiments as these gave rise to the plan to found in 
America a German state, or young Germany. Most of the 
refugees were collected in New York and Philadelphia. In 
New York, a society was formed in 1835, called '' Germania." 
Its object was to maintain a strong German character, 
German customs and education, to work for a better condi- 
tion of things in Germany, and to assist other refugees 
with advice and material aid.' The United States govern- 
ment having granted territory to the Polish fugitives,'' 
''Germania"' sent a memorial to congress, says Loher, 
asking for land for the German fugitives, and offering to 
pay for it after a period of time, their object being to set 
up an establishment here, in which to work for Germany. 
But congress refused their request. Their next plan was 
to direct German settlers to some one state of the Union, 
and thus to get control, of it and make it a German state. 
There was disagreement, however, as to the place. Some 
wished Texas, others Oregon, while the majority were in 
favor of the states between the Mississippi and the Great 
Lakes. ^ Later, the society disbanded, and its members were 
scattered over the United States, many of them as news- 
paper editors. 

These plans found sympathy in Philadelphia, among the 
bolder spirits. In 183G a meeting was held, at which the 
question of forming a German state was debated, a consti- 
tution was adopted, and directors chosen.' Two Pennsyl- 
vania newspapers worked for it, the Alte unci Neue Welt of 
Philadelphia, edited by Dr. Wesselhoft, a German fugitive, 

' Gustav Korner's Das Deutsche Element in den Vereinigten Staaten von 
Nordamerika (Cincinnati, 1880), p. 108. 

• A memorial was sent to congress by two hundred and thirty-five Polish 
refugees, asking for land; and June 30, 1834, an act was passed granting 
them thirty- six sections of public land in Illinois or Michigan. After ten 
years a patent was to be given, on the condition that they should have 
actually inhabited and cultivated the land and should have paid the mini- 
mum price. — Acts, 23rd Cong., 1st sess. (1834), p. 153. For memorial and 
committee report, see Senate Docs., vol. iv., p. 313. 

« Loher, p. 281. 

"• Das Deutsche Element, p. 70. 
2 



lO WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii. 

and the Adler des Westens, of Pittsburgh, which published 
plans for founding a state. Another project was united 
with this: namely, to Germanize Pennsylvania, by estab- 
lishing the German language in the courts and schools on 
an equality with the English, but the plan was defeated in 
the Pennsylvania legislature. The only practical result of 
this movement was the purchase of 12,000 acres of land in 
Missouri, and the founding of the town of Hermann, in 
Gasconade county, on the Missouri river. 

Loher, who in 1847 wrote of this movement in behalf of a 
German -American state, spoke thus in favor of it: "Ger- 
mans can remain Germans in America; they will mingle 
and intermarry with non-Germans and adopt their ways, 
but they can still remain essentially German. They can 
plant the vine on the hills and drink it with the happy song 
and dance, they can have German schools and universities, 
German literature and art, German science and philosophy, 
German courts and assemblies, — in short they can form a 
German state, in which the German language is as much 
the popular and official language as the English is now, 
and in which the German spirit rules.''" 

To the question, Where shall this state be? he replies, " The 
customary answer is, in the Northwest; for the 'ruling 
centre' of North America will be between the waters of the 
Ohio and Missouri rivers."' The prospect as he saw it was, 
that the Northwest'-' would become predominantly German, 
since the Irish remained in the east or in the cities, and 
the Americans were scattering through the Far West. 
Loher favored the plan of making one state a centre in 
which to concentrate, and proposed as suitable for that pur- 
pose, Wisconsin, Iowa, or Texas. The advantages of these 
states were, a climate favorable to the Germans, natural 
advantages and adaptability to agriculture, and the fact 
that they already had relatively the largest German popu- 
lations. He further urged the fact that they are so far 

' Loher, p. 503. 

- B}-^ the Nor tti west, I mean the old political Northwest, the states in the 
triangle between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the Great Lakes. 



i857-] Wisconsin's german element. n 

west that the Anglo-American element had not yet gotten 
control, that there were millions of acres of unsold and 
fruitful land, that there the immigrant was worth most, 
and the backwoodsman makes no quarrel with him about 
his language. The constitutions of these new sta.tes, too, were 
liberal. Texas would have been his preference had it re- 
mained apart from the Union, but otherwise he expressed 
no choice." 

Later, the plan of Germanizing an American state was 
generally given up by the German political refugees in 
America, but writers of that nationality continued to agitate 
it, though they would put it under the direction and support of 
the German government. Thus the same plan is advocated 
by Brater, in the Bluntschli-B rater Staats-Worterhuch, 
published in 1857. In opposition to those who favored 
colonization and settlement under government direction to 
other lands than America, he maintained that North 
America was the only goal of emigration worthy of official 
support, and the only one within the power of government 
to support, since the masses were turning in that direction. 
He follows Loher and others in choosing the Northwest, 
since the prosperity and preference of the Germans must 
be regarded as the best evidence of its suitability. To the 
objection that the Anglo-American element might inter- 
fere, he answers that the legislative power of the Ameri- 
can central government is too limited to make it lawfully 
possible for the Anglo-Americans successfully to oppose 
this danger to their sovereign authority; though it might 
hasten a catastrophe feared by many observers of Ameri- 
can affairs : namely, the breaking up of the Union into two 
or more groups of states, in part under Anglo-American, in 
part under German rule.* 

' A similar movement, which shows the tendency of the time, though 
with a very different object in view, was that of the Arbeiter-bund or labor 
union in New York, about 1848, at the head of which was Weitling, a Ger- 
man revolutionist. This society planned to establish a communistic settle- 
ment in Wisconsin. — Ely's Labor Movement, p. 220. 

- "Wir diirfen ebensowenig auf die Frage eingehen, welchen Eindruck 
bei den Anglo-Amerikanern die Erscheinung eines vorwiegend deutschen 



12 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii. 

To decide upon a suitable place for colonization, Robert 
von Mohl, a prominent publicist, recommended tJie propo- 
sition before the Wiirtemberg chamber, that a commission 
consisting of a landed proprietor, a physician, and a states- 
man, be sent to choose the most suitable place for German 
settlement, and that they report the conditions, — moral, 
physical, and otherwise.' 

William Roscher, in his Political Economy, published in 
1878, urges that the German government provide for emi- 
gration, but he adds: "Much might be gained if the Ger- 
man emigrants to the United States would concentrate 
themselves in one state, and thus make it a German state. 
For many reasons, Wisconsin is best adapted to that 
purpose. "-' 

An example of how it was proposed to carry out this 
movement may be found in Karl Heinzen's plan, published 
in 1855 in the Louisville Pioneer, of which he was the 
editor. He suggested that a beginning be made with 
50,000 acres of land, for which a fund should be raised: that 
an executive committee be appointed, whose duty it should 
be to take charge of the fund and to form the most favor- 
able regulations for the first settlement: that the settlers 
should be provided on credit with land, and the equipment 
necessary for pioneer life; when the number reached two 
hundred, a constitution should be drawn up, and a demo- 

Staates und das Auftreteu deutscher Repraseatanten in Washington her- 
vorrufen mochte. Jedenfalls ist die Verfassungs-miichtige Macht der 
Central-organe gegenuber den Einzelstaaten zu beschriinkt, als das as den 
Angloamerikanern dann noch moglich ware, dieser Gefiihrdung ihrer 
AUeinherrschaft auf gesetzlichem Weg erfolgreich entgegenzutreten. 
Gewaltschritte wiirden eineni schwer iiberwindlichen Widerstande der 
Deutschen begegnen und vielleicht nur die Katastrophe beschleunigen, die 
von manchen Kennern amerikanischer Zustande vorhergesagt wird: 
die Auflosung der Union in mehrere selbststiindige Staaten-Komplexe, 
zum Theil unter Anglo-amerikanischer, zum Tlieil unter deutscher Heri*- 
schaft."— Bluntschli-Brater, Staats Worterbuch, i., p. 598. 

^ Ibid., note, p. 598. 

- Roscher's Principles of Political Economy (Lalor, trans., Chicago, 
1878), ii., p. 371, note. See also Roscher and Jannasch, Kolonien, Kolonial- 
politih, und Ausioanderung (Leipsic, 1885), p. 344, note. 



lS55-] WISCONSIN S GERMAN ELEMENT. I3 

cratic state formed, to become by its educational institu- 
tions an outpost of culture. For this purpose some one of 
the Northwestern states, he thought, would be the most 
suitable. ' 

That this movement came to nothing in the way that 
was anticipated was inevitable from the character of the 
Germans, — "in thought gigantic, in action disunited." 
Loher, the author of this sentiment, thus further character- 
izes the German hereditary sins: " Ideas spring up like 
mushrooms, and our thoughts readily soar to heaven, but 
when the time for execution comes, * * * then men are 
disunited, * * * and matters are left to take their own 
course."' 

In the western states many large German settlements 
were formed, especially in Ohio, but they did not become 
centres of attraction, nor of any political importance. The 
masses of the colonists had German sentiments, but not the 
German ideals. They would not suffer themselves to be 
directed by their countrymen, especially since the leaders, 
who were often idealists and free-thinkers, were men far 
removed from the general German sentiment; but the im- 
migrants settled rather where business interests were most 
favorable. The general sentiment of later years is well 
expressed by Friedrich Kapp and Carl Schurz: "The well- 
being of the Germans," says Kapp, " does not lie in separa- 
tion from the American educational interests nor in fantas- 
tic dreams of founding a German state in America — a 
German Utopia. * * * ^ German nation within the Ameri- 
can they cannot be, but they can throw the rich treasures 
of their life and thought into the struggle for political and 
human interests, and their influence will penetrate the 
more deeply and create for them a wider field of activity, 

' Wisconsin Demohrat, May 10, 1855, a German weekly newspaper, pub- 
lished in Manitowoc between 1853 and 1866, by Karl Roser. The article is 
quoted from the Pioneer, which was started in 1854 in Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, by Karl Heinzen. It was later removed to Cincinnati, thence to 
New York, and finally in 1859 to Boston. 

- Loher, p. 280. 



14 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.XlL 

the less peculiar they make it.'' ' In a recent speech by 
Carl Schurz in New York, on German- American Day, the 
following thought is expressed: '• Let us never forget that 
we as Germans are not called upon here to form a separate 
nationality, but rather to contribute to the American na- 
tionality the strongest there is in us, and in place of our 
weakness to substitute the strength wherein our fellow- 
Americans excel us, and to blend it with our wisdom. 
We should never forget that in the political life of this 
republic, we as Germans have no peculiar interests, but 
that the universal well-being is ours also.'"' 

However, the agitation, while it lasted, served to keep 
alive German feeling in America, and to call particular 
attention to several of the western states. Wisconsin, 
especially since 184:8, has been very widely favored. It is a 
significant comment upon its popularity and advantages, 
that Roscher should have chosen it unhesitatingly. Were 
it possible to trace the effects of the agitation, we should 
look to those who have directed emigration, and to the 
leaders of large bodies of settlers, and such have fre- 
quently chosen Wisconsin. " 

' Friedrich Kapp's Die Deiitschen im Staate New York, ivdhrend cles 
achtzehnten Yahrhunderts. Geschichtsbldtter herausgegeben von Karl 
Schurz (New York, 1884), p. 238. 

- A society in Halberstadt, Germany, investigated the question of loca- 
tion, probably about 1848, and reported that for natural advantages and 
richness of the soil and a healthful climate, well suited to Germans, Wis- 
consin was the best state. — Theodore Wettstein's Der Nordamerikanische 
Freistaat Wisconsin (Elberfeld, 1851), p. 188. 

In 1855, the Cincinnati society " Kansas Ansiedelungsverein," founded 
with the object of directing Germans to Kansas, changed their plans and 
favored Wisconsin as the best state for Germans. It was said that a com- 
mittee of the society was sent to purchase land, and others from Louisville 
joined them. — Wisconsin Demokrat, Sept. 25, 1855. 

In 1856, a colony of Germans from Pittsburg took up about 27,000 acres 
of choice lands in Marathon county, at Little Bluff Falls. 



iS/O.] Wisconsin's German element. 15 

Location of the Germans in the United States. 

But while the ideals of German revolutionists have been 
unrealized, Germans have, without previous concert, con- 
tinued to concentrate in some few states of the Union. It 
is a curious fact that German settlement in the United 
States follows a belt beginning with Pennsylvania and 
running due west through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wiscon- 
sin, Iowa, and Missouri.' In general this may be accounted 
for by two facts: First, the Germans generally avoid the 
southern states, because they are not acquainted with the 
products of the south, while they understand the cultiva- 
tion of wheat, rye, oats, and other northern products; again, 
land in the south, before the War of the Rebellion, was 
held by large land-owners who rarely sold, and free labor 
was degraded by competition with slave labor;' the 
climate of the south, moreover, was found to be less suit- 
able to Germans. Another reason for their preference 
w^as, that the Germans were searching for work, and par- 
ticularly for land, which latter was abundant in that tier 
of states during the period of their immigration. 

Kapp, writing in 1870, says: '" As nearly as a calculation 
can be made, it has been ascertained that out of one hun- 
dred continental immigrants, seventy-five go west, and 
twenty- five remain in the great cities; while of the Irish 
and English, twenty-five settle in the country, and seventy- 
five remain in the eastern cities."' Thus the new North- 
western states opening to settlement between 1820 and 
1850 naturally received the great mass of Germans who 
poured out of Germany in those years, owing to political 
agitations and hard limes. The immigrants who came be- 
cause of the reaction following the uprisings of 1830, settled 
chiefly in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri;* while others 

' Bluntschli-Brater, Staats-lVorterhuch, i., p. 588. 

■Carl H Schmidt's Prdmie des Nord-westen (Manitowoc, 1884), p. 23. 
The same for 1886, p. 52. 

*Fr. Kai)p's Immigration and the Commiss^ioners of Emigration of the 
State of New York, pp. 118-158. See also Loher, p. 375. 

^ Das Deutsche Element, p. 291. 



l6 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii. 

went to New York, Pennsylvania, and Canada.' But 
since then, and especially since 1845, they have settled in 
Wisconsin and Iowa.- 

Physical Features. 

Of all the Northwestern states, no one excelled Wiscon- 
sin, and perhaps no state equalled it in natural advantages 
especially suited to a quick development. Wisconsin is 
bounded on the north and east by two of the largest inland 
lakes in the world. The western boundary is the great 
Mississippi. Running diagonall}^ across the state is the 
valley occupied by Green Bay and the Fox and Wisconsin 
rivers. Situated thus between the limits of the two most 
important waterways in the United States, Wisconsin pos- 
sessed great advantages in the way of routes of travel and 
means of transportation, an especially important factor in 
the early days. The prospects for Wisconsin in that re- 
spect were sometimes greatly magnified. It was suggested 
by one German writer, that we should doubtless soon see 
Bremen steamers in Milwaukee harbor.' By means of the 
canal connecting the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, a limited 
navigation was possible from Lake Michigan through Green 
Bay to the Mississippi. Before railroads were built, it was 
declared that Wisconsin had better means of communica- 

' Loher, p. 275. 

- The statistics of the Erie canal show that fui-niture destined for Wis- 
consin passed over that thoroughfare as follo%vs: 48 tons in 1838, 742 tons 
in 1839, 816 tons in 1840, 1,190 tons in 1841, 1,985 tons in 1842, while for 
Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania it had fallen off more than one-half, 
and for Ohio and Illinois more than one-third. The main routes of travel 
to the west were by New York and New Orleans. The former, by which 
the travel was most extensive, it was estimated, had brought from 50,000 
to 60,000 settlers to Wisconsin by 1843; while about 10,000 had come up the 
Mississippi into our state. It is natural then, that Wisconsin should have 
received a larger immigration than Iowa and the more western states at 
that period. — Hunfs Merch. Mag., x., p. 541. 

^ Alexander Ziegler's SA-Jzsen einer Reise durch Xordamerika unci West' 
indien mit besonderer Beri'icksichtigung des deutschen Elements der Aus- 
wanderung und den landwirthschaftlichen Verhiiltnisse in devi neuen 
Staate Winconsin (Dresden and Leipzig, 1849), pt, i., p. 329. 



i88o.] Wisconsin's german element. 17 

tion, and hence a better market, than many of the eastern 
states.* " The soils of the state," says President Chamber- 
lin, ' ' are of a high degree of fertility and permanence. "' - The 
forest lands may be roughly included in the district north 
of a line running from Racine due northwest. The northern 
half was originally covered by an almost unbroken forest 
of hard wood and evergreen; and along the eastern border 
of the state, except at the extreme south, is a tract of heavy 
timber. 

The effect of these physical features upon German immi- 
gration is shown by the distribution of the Germans in the 
state. Considering the census reports of 1880 by counties, 
we find the following results: In eighteen counties located, 
with two exceptions, in the eastern and north-central part 
of the state, forming about one -third of the whole number, 
and having 42.5 percent, of the total population of the 
state, there were 66.!^ per cent, of the total German (for- 
eign-born) population.' Thus the Germans are seen to be 
massed in the eastern and north-central counties, a posi- 
tion which corresponds markedly with that of the heavily- 
wooded districts; they have shown their preference first 
for the wooded lands near the main routes of travel, 
namely the eastern counties, and from there have spread 
to the north-central parts of the state, into the deeper for- 
ests. 

Another physical feature of Wisconsin which is of great 
importance is the climate, which is remarkably good. The 
winters are severe, but owing to the dry atmosphere are 
less penetrating than in more humid climates. The ex- 
tremes of temperature are tempered by the proximity of 
the Great Lakes. The state is comparatively free from 
the fevers of the states to the south, and is considered one 
of the most healthful in the Union. This one fact placed 
our state above many whose advantages in other respects 

' Gustav Richter's Der Nordamerikanisclie Freistaat Wiscoiisin (Wesel, 

1849), p. 6. 
■ Encyclopcedia Britannica (9th ed.), article " Wisconsin." 
^See map. Were we able to obtain statistics of native-born Germans for 

each county, this percentage would doubtless be lai-gely increased. 



l8 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii. 

were fully equal to hers. Thus while Michigan resembles 
Wisconsin in many respects, the climate is far less favor- 
able. 

Finances and Constitution. 

When Wisconsin was admitted into the Union, there was 
no territorial debt, and no large debt was incurred until the 
war;' while Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana had large debts 
on account of the projects for internal improvements.^ The 
Milwaukee Courier of August 31, 1842, has the following 
quotation from the Mohawk (N. Y.) Courier: *' Immigra- 
tion turns now to Wisconsin, Missouri and Iowa, for Mich- 
igan, Illinois and Indiana have public debts." 

Another important fact had its influence, and doubtless a 
very decided one, upon German immigration. The consti- 
tution framed for Wisconsin in 1848 was a very liberal one 
as regards the rights of foreigners, only one year's residence 
being required before the privilege of voting was allowed. 
Wisconsin was the only state possessing so liberal a fran- 
chise in 1848. In 1851 Indiana put a similar clause in her 
constitution; Minnesota in 1857, and other states followed 
within ten or fifteen years. Wisconsin's one-year policy 
was adopted in great measure through the influence of Dr. 
Franz Hiibschmann and Moritz Schoffier, German delegates 
from Milwaukee to the constitutional conventions ot 1846 
and 1847-48, respectively.' 

German Books and Pamphlets on Wisconsin. 

All these advantages, with others, were urged in numer- 
ous German writings. Probably the first of these was 
written by C. E. Hasse, and was published in Grimma in 

^Governor's Messages. Wis., fox- 1853 and 1863; and Treasurer's Report, 
TFis., for 1849. 

- This was urged in pamphlets. See Der Nor darner ikanisclie Freistaat 
Wisconsin, p. 7. 

^Jour. Wis. Const. Conv.. 1846, pp. 24, 29: and Jour, of 1847-48, pp. 31, 
129, 190, et seq. For Dr. Hiibschmann's speech on the franchise, see Wis- 
consin Banner, November 7, 1846, a German paper published in Milwau- 
kee from 1844 to 1855. See also Rudolph A. Koss's Milioaukee (Milwaukee, 
1871), pp. 231, 258. 



1847-50-] Wisconsin's German element. 19 

1841. Hasse had travelled in Wisconsin, and was so favor- 
ably impressed with its good features that he wrote advis- 
ing' Germans to settle here. This is said to have had a 
marked influence on German immigration to Wisconsin, 
and particularly to Milwaukee.' 

But it was between 1847 and 1850 that the most of the 
works were written. One Fleischman published about 
18-47 a book on the climate and resources of the United 
States, which was widely circulated in Germany, and is 
said to have had very much to do with the great influx of 
immigration to Wisconsin about that period. In describing 
Wisconsin, he dwells chiefly upon the similarity of the 
climate and soil of the state with those of the northern 
provinces of Germany, and likewise points to its high de- 
gree of healthfulness, comparing it with the fever states — 
Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri. 

Dr. Carl de Haas came with other young men to Wiscon- 
sin in 1847, from Elberfeld (Rhine). He settled in Calumet, 
and from there wrote a work called Winke fiir Ausican- 
derer, which was published in Elberfeld and Iserlohn in 
184S. As university students, they had planned to come to 
America, and had Texas in mind; but a description of 
Wisconsin in the Banner Zeitung,- particularly the region 
about Milwaukee, and a letter from Johann Mentis, of 
Calumet, induced them to come to Wisconsin. After about 
six months' residence he writes, "No one of us, and almost 
no one who came before us to Calumet, has regretted his 
settlement; on the contrary the majority are contented and 
happy." He preferred Calumet to Milwaukee, as more 
healthful.^ 

Another pamphlet, directed to people in the same Rhine re- 
gion, was written by Gustav Richter, a citizen of Manitowoc 
and a land agent there. His work was published in Wesel 
in 1849, and was designed to bring his fellow-countrymen 

^In der Neuen Heimath, p. 368. 
-Published at Barmen, Rhine. 

^Xord Amerika Wisconsin, Calumet: Winke filr Ausioanderer. Von 
Dr. Carl de Haas. 



20 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [voLxIi. 

from the Rhine countries to Wisconsin. He particularly re- 
commends Manitowoc and Sheboygan, with Calumet, Fond 
du Lac, and Winnebago counties. As advantages, he urges 
Wisconsin's healthful climate and its adaptibility to Ger- 
man immigrants, and regards its market advantages as far 
more favorable then those of many of the eastern states. 
The prospect of a railroad from the Pacific to Lake Michigan 
is urged as likely to develop the state, and particularly 
the northern part. ' 

In 1847, Freimund Goldmann came to "Wisconsin, and his 
letters home were published by his father, Dr. Goldmann, 
pastor in Gross Dahlum. He found that no government land 
remained about Milwaukee, and was advised to go to the 
western part of the state, as more healthful than the lake- 
shore region. He states these points as favorable to Wis- 
consin: (1) It is healthier than the southern states; (2) 
government land and cultivated farms were both to be had — 
the latter since many Americans had at that time caught the 
California fever and gone west; (3) Wisconsin was a young 
and flourishing state; (4) markets were good, by railroad 
and boat.' He was anxious to induce other Germans to 
come to the district, and offered to loan the use of forty 
acres free of charge, to each man who would come for five 
years. 

Wilhelm Dames wrote a pamphlet which was published 
at Meurs, Prussia, in ]8i9, entitled Wie Sieht es in Wiscon- 
sin Aus ? Dames settled near Ripon, having come over 
with friends from Wesel. Wisconsin had been recom- 
mended to him as the best land for the Germans, on account 
of its healthfulness and excellent drinking water. "It 
has,*' he writes, '"without doubt the best water and the 
soundest climate, as soon as one leaves Lake Michigan, of 
any of the United States." 

In 1848, Theodore Wettstein, a man of influence in his 
native town, came to Milwaukee with a large body of emi- 

' Der Nordamerikanische Freistaat Wisconsin, pp. 7 et seq. 
' Freimund Goldmami's Briefe aus Wisconsin in Nord-Amerika. Heraus- 
gegeben von Dr. O. Goldmann (Leipzig, 1849). 



^4S-5i-] Wisconsin's German element. 21 

grants from the Wupper valley — Barmen and vicinity. He 
wrote a work on Wisconsin, published in G-ermany in 1850, 
which is particularly commendable for its impartial char- 
acter. '"The stream of settlers," he writes, •' turns now to 
Wisconsin; and rightly, one must think, when he sees the, 
soil and splendid forests." He found that many immigrants 
were deciding to go to Indiana, but from what he had heard 
he thought it verj^ unwise, since almost every day immi- 
grants came to Wisconsin who had lived in the former state, 
and who knew not how to jjaint fully its evils. Of Wiscon- 
sin's good features, he mentions its position with regard to 
water communication by lakes, rivers, and projected canals, 
and the almost fiat or slightly rolling surface, which makes 
the laying of railroads very easy; while good strong wood, 
suitable for that purpose, is abundant. Again, he writes, 
" Of all states in America, Wisconsin has a climate the 
best suited to Europeans, and particularly to Germans;" but 
he claims that no part of America is as healthful as Ger- 
many. ' 

About this time. Alexander Ziegler travelled in America, 
and wrote a prolonged description of his travels, particu- 
larly in Wisconsin. He gives a very pleasant picture of 
Milwaukee, its growth and German society, the gardens, 
the music, and the German influence in political life. In 
regard to Wisconsin, he mentions the size of the state, its 
sound climate, the excellent soil, riiineral wealth, advanta- 
geous position, and the favorable connection of the interior 
of the state with the outer world. All these advantages he 
declares could allow the impartial observer only the most 
favorable judgment concerning this state.' 

The mineral regions on Lake Superior and along the Mis- 
sissippi river were described in a work by W. C. L. Koch, 
a member of the council of miners in the Duchy of Bruns- 
wick. It was published in Gottingen in 1851, and purports 
to be a guide for German emigrants. He describes the 
region after visiting it, and advises the German laborers 



^Wcttstein, pp. 150. 202, etc. 
'^Ziegler, pt. i., pp. 223 et seq. 



22 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii. 

who are thinking of emigrating, especially miners, smelt- 
ers, forest laborers, coal-burners, and builders, to go to the 
lead regions, where labor is scarce and wages are excellent. 
In this way. the advantages of various regions of Wis- 
consin were brought to the notice of Germans. It is im- 
possible to estimate the influence of these works, but the 
advantages they emphasize were those which the Germans 
were in search of: namely, good lands, within their means, 
and the conditions most fa'-^orable to health and liberfcy. It 
is plain, then, that the features of Wisconsin most attractive 
to them were: the climate well suited to Germans, the good 
soil, tinely- wooded lands at low prices, and the good mar- 
kets both with the east and south; while the constitution 
offered them a chance for political influence. 

Wisconsin in favor in ISJ^S: 

Many Germans who came about 1848 confirm the state- 
ment that Wisconsin was favorably known at that time. 
Ziegler declares that he came with great preference for 
Wisconsin, which was receiving especial notice in Europe.' 
•'In New York,'' says Charles L. Encking,- "every hotel- 
keeper and railroad agent, every one who was ap- 
proached for advice, directed men to Wisconsin." Mr. 
Wettstein also states that from all sides he heard the most 
undivided agreement, and men who were acquainted with 
the historical development of the United States and had 
sharply watched its growth, gave with one accord the new 
state of Wisconsin the most advantageous outlook.' ""In St. 
Louis, Rev. H. A. Winter,' of that city, heard repeatedly of 
Wisconsin's healthful climate, and decided to come here. 

' " Wie iiberhaupt nach den Vereinigten Staaten, so war von dem altern- 
den Devitschland aus mein Blick mit besonderer Vorliebe nach dem Para- 
diese des gelobten Landes Amerika, dem in jugendliclier Frische und 
Schonheit erblixhenden Wisconsin gerichtet." — Ziegler, pt. i., p. 199. 

- A citizen of Fond du Lac, with whom I had a conversation regarding 
this matter. 

« Wettstein, p. 133. 

* Now a citizen of Madison, He has matei-ially assisted me in reference 
to authorities. 



iS35~54-] Wisconsin's German element. 23 

Thus both in Germany and America, Wisconsin was 
*' booming" at the period when the discontent in the fath- 
erland and the consequent flood of immigration were ap- 
proaching their climax, which occurred in the year 1854:. 
Between 1844 and 1854, Germans to the number of 1,226,392 
emigrated to the United States. In Illinois, Indiana, 
and Ohio, meanwhile, the greater part of the government 
land had been sold. Much of the rest was in the hands of 
speculators; thus land there was high and not abundant. 
In Wisconsin, on the other hand, sales did not begin in the 
land offices at Green Bay and Mineral Point until 1835, 
and in Milwaukee not until 1839. Here, then, there was an 
abundance of excellent land at low prices. 

As I have before stated (p. 302), the German immigra- 
tion to Wisconsin reached its first climax in 1854, the same 
year that German immigration to the United States at- 
tained a high- water mark not equalled until 1883-84, when 
Wisconsin again obtained more than her due share of in- 
crease. The policy of the state in appointing a commissioner 
of immigration, and in disposing of its lands at low prices, 
probably contributed in some measure to this result. 

Work of the Commissioner of Immigration. 

A law passed in 1852 provided that a commissioner of 
immigration should be appointed, who should reside in New 
York city during the year, and whose duty it should be to 
give information to immigrants in regard to Wisconsin.' 
Gysbert Van Steenwyk, of La Crosse, was appomted to the 
office, the same year. In his report, he states that he made 
it his object to become acquainted with the officers most 
closely connected with immigration, to distribute pam- 
phlets, and to advertise in the European newspapers, chiefly 
the German. He engaged the services of a German assist- 
ant, since the German emigration to the west, and especially 
to Wisconsin, was the largest. According to his statement, 
no other western state had a lawfully-appointed represent- 

1 Laws of Wis., 1852, p. 665. 



24 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii. 

ative in New York, although the governor of Iowa had 
recommended the appointment of one. Van Steenwyk 
fomid it difficult to deal with forwarding agents and run- 
ners, who naturally favored Wisconsin, but disliked any 
interference with their overcharges.' 

In 1853, Herman Hartel, a German land agent resident 
in Milwaukee, was appointed immigration commissioner. 
According to his report, he had been for many years accus- 
tomed to visit New York regularly in the line of his own 
business, and had lost no opportunity to inquire into the 
condition of emigration. He, also, used the New York and 
European press to present Wisconsin's advantages, giving 
a description of various localities, the commerce of the 
state, its minerals, timber, agricultural resources, and cli- 
mate. Among the journals which he selected for adver- 
tisement, he mentions various German papers in America, 
as well as in Leipzig, Cassel, Nuremberg, Basel, Bremen, 
and other places in Germany. He states that within the 
eight months that his report covers, he had received and 
answered three hundred and seventeen letters from Europe, 
and that over 3,000 people had visited his office, of whom 
two-thirds were Germans. Often money was sent to him 
from people in Wisconsin, to assist friends and relatives on 
their arrival at New York. Dr. Hildebrandt, of Mineral 
Point, Wisconsin, was at that time United States consul at 
Bremen, and he gave Mr. Hartel valuable assistance in 
circulating information. HiirtePs report states that nearly 
thirty thousand pamphlets were distributed, of which one- 
half found their way to Europe.' 

In 1854, Fred W. Horn, of Ozaukee county, was Wiscon- 
sin's commissioner of immigration in New York city. He 
used similar means of advertising, and of assisting immi- 
grants. At this time the commissioner established a branch 
office in Quebec, but the German immigration through 
Quebec was small. The existence of the Wisconsin com- 
mission was then widely known throughout Europe, from 

^ Assemb. Jour., Wis. Leg., 1853, Ajypendix, 
' Gov. Mess, and Accomp. Docs. , Wis. , 1854. 



1838-86.] Wisconsin's German element. 25 

the advertisements that had been generally inserted in the 
newspapers.' 

In 1855' the office was discontinued, and was not revived 
until ISOr. 

Wisconsin's Land Policy. 

The established policy of "Wisconsin has been to offer the 
land granted her for school purposes, immediately and at 
low prices, for the sake of attracting immigration.'' These 
grants were larger than those made to the older states. In 
1838 congress granted to the Territory seventy-two sections 
for the use and support of a university; and the sixteenth 
section in each township for common schools. The 500,000 
acres employed in other states for internal improvements 
were added to the endowment for schools. To this was 
added in 1854, for university use, seventy-two sections as 
an equivalent for the salt-spring lands, amounting to 92,160 
acres. By 1880 swamp lands to the amount of 3,071,459 
acres had been patented to the state, fifty per cent, of 
which were added to the school endowment. Altogether 
the state has received nearly four million acres of land for 
school and university purposes, and the greater part of 
these lands have been offered for sale at the minimum 
government price of 61.25 per acre.* Being selected in 
remote regions,' they were appraised at low prices; but 

^ The report for 1854 was not printed. 

' Latvs of Wis., 18o5, p. 8. 

'In the preamble to a lawmaking a state -university appropriation, we 
find the following: " Whereas, It has been the settled policy of the state 
of Wisconsin to offer for sale and dispose of its lands granted by congress 
to the state for educational purposes, at such a low price per acre as would 
induce immigration and location thereon by actual settlers." — Laws of 
Wis., 1873, p. 114. 

* A.S late as 1871, according to a state immigration pampUet for that 
year, 56,000 acres belonging to the state were offered for sale in Adams 
county at 50 cents an acre; 30,000 in Marathon county at from 50 cents to 
$1.35 per acre; 100,000 in Wool couuty at the same rates; 94,000 in 
Shawano county at from $1.35 to $3.25 per acre. 

^The 34,000 acres were selected in 1863 in Chippewa, Clark, Dunn, 
Marathon, Polk, Oconto, and Shawano counties.— Butterfield's Hist. Univ. 
of Wis., p. 106. 
3 



26 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii. 

since they were excellent lands and were sold on credit, 
the demand for them was very great.' 

By 18SG, of the school lands — amounting to 1,458,649 
acres — only 104,539 remained unsold; the rest had been 
sold at an average price of $1.87 per acre. Of the 240,000 
acres of the agricultural grant, all but 19,889 acres had been 
sold at an average of $1.27 per acre. Of the swamp lands, — 
aggregating 3,0.1,459.61 acres — all but 476,602 acres of the 
fifty per cent devoted to schools had been sold.^ 

Thus, while Wisconsin's peculiar land policy has been a 
loss to the educational interests of the state, it has, per- 
haps, materially helped its growth and settlement.' Mr. 
Hilrtel, in his immigration report of 1853, writes, "In my 
daily intercourse with the emigrant, I directed the atten- 
tion of those intending to purchase land, to the school 
lands of our state, showing to those of limited means, that 
they could at once plant themselves in an entirel}^ inde- 
pendent situation, as it could not be difficult for them, with 
patience and industry, and the long term allowed for pay- 
ment, to meet their obligations. Upon inquiry, I have had 
the satisfaction to learn that during the past year, large 
quantities of these lands, largely exceeding the sales of 
the previous year, have been sold, and chiefly to actual 
settlers." 

' " The lands [school] have generally been situated in new and unim- 
portant parts of the state, and surrounded by lands of the government have 
seldom been appraised hi2;her than ten shillings per acre — the government 
price. They have been brought into market under low appraisements 
and readily sold, on account of the credit given; wliilst the lands of the 
government in their vicinity remained undisposed of." — Report of the 
joint select committee to investigate the oflices of the land commissioners, 
etc., in Assemb. Jour., Wis. Leg., 1856, Appendix, ii., p. 31. 

• Knight's " History and Management of Federal Land Grants for Edu- 
cation in the Northwest Territory," pp. 170, 171, in Amer. Hist. Ass. 
Papers, vol. i. See also Durrie's " Publ'ic Domain," in Snyder and Van 
Vechten's Hist. Atlas of Wis. (Chicago, 1878), p. 181. 

'See, however, Knight's view, as above, p. 166. 



1844-51-] Wisconsin's German element. 27 

Settlement of the Eastern Counties, ivith Sauk and Buffalo. 

The counties near Milwaukee were the first to be settled 
by Germans, since Milwaukee was the most important and 
best-known port of Wisconsin on Lake Michigan, and 
there the attractions of a German society were strongest 
"Wisconsin," says Loher, "has now turned upon itself 
universal attention; and the immigrants, especially the 
Germans, are streaming in. * * * Among the Germans 
in Milwaukee, a very stirring life has already (1847) devel- 
oped. Nowhere are there such joyous balls, and nowhere 
have the Germans decided so much in politics as here."' 
The social and musical life of Milwaukee among the Ger- 
mans, which gave it the name of the "German Athens," 
made the city well known among Germans in Europe and 
America. A "Manner gesang Quartet" was first formed; 
later, an "Allgemeinen deutschen Gesangverein." Some 
Germans of considerable musical ability early came to 
Milwaukee; among them Hans Balakta, who became the 
director of the latter society. Under his leadership, Haydn's 
"Creation" was given in 1851, with a chorus of about a 
hundred and thirty instruments, and other fine oratorios 
and operas followed.' Thus Milwaukee gained a reputa- 
tion, even in its pioneer stage, for musical ability, while 
amateur theatres, literary societies, political clubs, military 
companies, and a refined society, gave it the tone of a Ger- 
man city; and there to some extent the dreams of patriots 
were realized. 

The majority of the German population of Milwaukee 
were at this time Catholics. This, as well as the later large 
German Catholic element in the state, is probably due in 
some measure to the fact that a German priest and bishop 
were early sent to Milwaukee, both of them men well 
known and of marked ability; and they have been followed 
by German bishops, not only in Milwaukee but also in Green 

' Loher, p. 345. 

■Hint. Milwaukee (West. Hist. Co., 1881), p. 582. See also Das Deutsche 
Element, p. 284; and Koss's Milwaukee, p. 323. 



2*8 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii. 

Bay and La Crosse. In 1844, Bishop Henni, a native of 
Switzerland, was sent to Milwaukee from Cincinnati, where 
he had been professor of philosophy and church history in 
the Atheneuni. He had founded many German Catholic 
societies in Ohio, and had established the first German 
Catholic newspaper in America. He was a man of strong 
German si)irit, and through his instrumentality a priestei^ 
seminar was established, which afterwards became the 
nucleus of the large group of institutions at St. Francis. 
When he went to Milwaukee in 1844, there were but eight 
thousand Catholics in Wisconsin, according to the Deutsch- 
Amerikanisches Conversations-Lexicon; but in 1867 there 
were two hundred and fifty thousand,' the increase largely 
due to Henni's direction and unceasing activity.' Thus 
the Milwaukee diocese became one of the most important 
in the United States, and Bishop Henni was made arch- 
bishop, being the first German in the United States to at- 
tain to that exalted office.' 

But the Protestant element in and about Milwaukee had 
meanwhile become a large and an important one in its 
effect upon later immigration. Between 1839 and 1844, two 
large bodies of so-called "Old Lutherans" had come to 
America from Pomerania and Brandenburg, as a result of 
the attempt to unite the Lutheran and Reformed churches. 
They were directed to Wisconsin by their leader. Captain 
Henry von Rohr. He had come in advance of them, and 
after traveling through Ohio, Illinois, New York, and Wis- 
consin, chose the two latter. Wisconsin was selected, it is 
thought, on account of its climate, and its abundance of 
well-wooded lands at low prices. These Old Lutherans, 
perhaps some three thousand in all, settled in Ozaukee, 
Washington, and Dodge counties, and in the city of Mil- 
waukee, in the neighborhood of Chestnut street. The re- 
ports of their prosperity, sent to friends and relatives at 

'According to Hunt's Merch. Mag., x., p. 541, the population of Wis- 
consin in 1844 was estimated at 110,000 and the census of 1863 gives the 
population for that year as 955,793. 

"Schem's Deutsch-Amerik. Conversations-Lexicon, v., p. 366. 

^ Das Deutsche Element, p. 290. 



1 839-72. J Wisconsin's german element. 29 

home, were widely circulated, since they came from various 
localities. Moreover, in 1853, Rev, J. A. A. Grabau, the 
pastor with whom they emigrated, and Captain von Rohr 
himself, travelled in north Germany, and by their conver- 
sations and reports created a further interest and thus di- 
rected the stream of Lutheran emigration to Wisconsin. 
These facts serve to explain to some extent the large north- 
German — and particularly Pomeranian — element which 
has been coming into the state increasingly, in later 
years.' According to Geffcken, emigration from the cen- 
tral and southern parts of Germany has been decreasing, 
while that of the northern districts is increasing. Thus in 
1849 and 1850, the Rhinelands furnished from 18 to 20 per 
cent of the emigration, and Westphalia 38 per cent, while 
Prussia and Posen furnished onl}" 20 per cent. In 1872, 
Prussia furnished 11.8 per cent, Pomerania 16.5 per cent, 
Hanover 12 per cent, while the Rhinelands furnished 8.3 
per cent, and Westphalia 3.5 per cent.- 

The German settlement of southeastern Wisconsin, which 
began about 1830, was remarkably rapid. In the year 1845, 
two hundred and fifty thousand acres of land were sold in 
the Milwaukee land offices, chiefly to actual settlers, of 
whom the larger part were Germans. ' The Germans who 
came early to the state were largely from the Rhine prov- 
inces, where political discontent was strong at that period, 
and industry at a low ebb. Others came to Wisconsin from 
Bavaria, Saxony. Luxemburg, Wiirtemburg, and Switzer- 
land. The eastern counties received the greatest numbers, 
but a large German element settled early in Sauk and Dane 
counties. 

It was the fine Sauk prairie and beautiful scenery on the 
Wisconsin that attracted German settlers to Sauk county. 

' By the census of 1880 there were reported to be in Wisconsin 111,482 
Prussians; 4,518 Hanoverians; 9,315 Mecklenburgers — 1535,315, in a total 
German population of 184,328. Others, too, were reported as merely from 
Germany. 

• Friedrich Heinrich Geffcken, in G. Schonberg's Polit. <^con. Auflage, 
ii., p. 962. See also Roscher and Jannasch's Kolonien, p. 385. 

'" Wisconsin Banner, August, 1845. 



30 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol. xH. 

The settlement there was begun by Count August Haraszthy, 
a fugitive from Hungary, who came to America about 18J:0, 
While crossing the ocean he read one of Captain Marry- 
att's novels, which describes a trip from Green Bay up the 
Fox river by way of Fort Winnebago, and down the Wis- 
consin river to Prairie du Chien. This, with a glowing 
description of the lead mines, rich country, and invigorat- 
ing climate, given to him by some Englishmen on their way 
to Mineral Point, led him to choose Wisconsin.' He laid 
out the village of Sauk, called at first Haraszthy, and in- 
duced some Germans to join him. This was the germ of 
the later large German element which occupies the greater 
part of Sauk county. 

By 1847 the greater part of the land within Mty or one 
hundred miles of Milwaukee had been settled, or was in 
the hands of speculators;- while some Germans from the 
Rhine provinces and Saxony had settled in the northeast- 
ern counties — Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Calumet, and Outa- 
gamie.' 

At this period, Germans began to spread in part to the 
southwestern counties, about Mineral Point,' but chiefly 
northward to Sheboygan and Manitowoc counties, thence 
to Calumet and the region about Lake Winnebago, while 
many pressed into Outagamie and Green Lake counties, 
which are crossed by the upper and the lower Fox. 
In Green Lake county, the Fox river was then navigable 
as far as Princeton, and it formed the boundary line be- 

' William H. Canfield's Outline Sketches of Sauk County (Baraboo, 1861), 
sketch ii., p. 59. 

^ Wie sieht es in Wisconsin Aus? p. 18, Wettstein, pt. ii. , p. 330. 

*Dr. de Haas wrote in 1847 that all the goverament land within eight 
miles of Lake Winnebago had been taken. He found there a large Catho- 
lic settlement from the Rhine region. — Winke filr Auswanderer , p. 71. 

In Outagamie county, a body of Rhinelanders is said to have settled in 
1842. — In der Neuen Heimatli, p. 373. 

In Manitowoc county, in 1858,- the Rhinelanders and Westphalians 
formed the largest part of the German population. — Richter, p. 10. 

*In 1848, Mr. Goldmann found six or eight German families near Min- 
eral Point, and some Germans at work in the mines. According to Loher, 
eome towns in Grant county were largely German in 1847. 



1 841-67. J Wisconsin's German element. 31 

tween the government and Indian lands. All these coun- 
ties received the mass of their German population between 
1848 and 1860, and the bulk of it was from north and mid- 
dle Germany — Holstein, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Han- 
over, Saxony, and Lippe Detmold. 

The settlement of Buffalo county, which was meanwhile 
going on, deserves some special attention. It was begun 
perhaps as early as 1811, by some Germans from Galena, 
Illinois, who were employed by Captain D. S. Harris of 
that town, to cut wood for the passing steamboats on the 
Mississippi. The county was surveyed in 1818, and a large 
immigration began in 1855. The settlers came partly by 
river from Galena, partly by land from Sauk county, and 
some of them directly from Milwaukee, where they had 
purchased ox-teams and farm implements. There are 
many north-Germans in Buffalo county, but the majority 
are Swiss, attracted thither by its fine pasture lands and 
abundance of springs, somewhat like those of their native 
land. About four-fifths of the Germans settled there be- 
fore any railroad reached the county, and are to be found 
chiefly in the towns along the Mississippi river. Swiss 
have also settled in large numbers in the adjoining county 
of La Crosse. 

Since 1860 the Germans have more and more pressed into 
the northern-central regions of the state, following the 
bent already mentioned, — the strong preference for forest 
rather than prairie land. 

Work of the Commissioners, and State Board of Immigra- 
tion, since 1867. 

In 1867 the state renewed its efforts to attract settlers, by 
establishing a board of immigration.* The governor, ex- 
officio a member of the board, was authorized to appoint a 
local committee, three citizens in each county, to assist the 
board, and particularly to make out lists of the names and 

' Laws of Wis., 1867, p. 122. 



32 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLl-XTIONS. [vol.xil. 

postoffice addresses of European friends and relatives of 
the inhabitants of their respective districts, that informa- 
tion in regard to Wisconsin might be sent to them. For 
some years BernhardDomschke, a German editor in Milwau- 
kee, was a member of that board. German pamphlets were 
again distributed. One issued in 18G8 describes the German 
life and industries of Milwaukee w^ith some detail. Speak- 
ing of the liberal government of the state, it says: " The laws 
of Wisconsin are more favorable for immigrants than 
those of any other American state." 

In 187] ' the board was abolished, and a state commis- 
sioner of immigration was provided for, the office to be 
elective, and the term of service two years. The commis- 
sioner was to reside in Milwaukee, and he was authorized 
to appoint a local agent for Chicago. The duty of the com- 
missioner was to prepare and distribute pamphlets giving 
the resources of the state, and the amount of government, 
state, and railroad land available for settlement. 

Ole C. Johnson (Shipness), of Beloit, a Norwegian, held 
this office from 1871 to 1874. He announced it as his 
policy to give a reliable statement of Wisconsin's resources 
and to direct his efforts chiefly to European countries, 
for the reason that the state is heavily-timbered, and 
not being so easily cultivated as the prairies it needs the 
"hard-working yeomanry of the old world,"' who are able 
and willing to fell huge trees.- Agents were appointed at 
Chicago and Quebec. J. A. Becher, of Milwaukee, was at 
that time in Germany, and under his supervision, co-oper- 
ating with Commissioner Johnson, a large number of Ger- 
man pamphlets published by the latter were distributed by 
consuls and steamship agents. In 1874, M. J. Argard was 
appointed, but the powers of the commissioner were at 
that time restricted, and in 1875 the office was abolished.' 

In 1879 the experiment of a board of immigration was 

' Laws of Wis., 1871, p. 241. 

' Immigration Report, Wis., 1871. 

^Laws of Wis., 1874. p. 549. 



1 879-] Wisconsin's German element. t^t, 

renewed, and it was maintained from 1881 to 1887, when it 
was abolished. J. A. Becher, well qualified for the work 
by his previous efforts, was president of the board during 
its existence. Throughout this period Wisconsin was exten- 
sively represented in Europe, and especially in Germany. 

At the request of Charles Colby, the president of the 
Wisconsin Central Railroad Company, Kent K. Kennan, the 
agent of the land department of that company, was ap- 
pointed by the board as state agent in Europe. He found it 
to his advantage to be under state authority, and to present 
the interests of the whole state rather than those of 
the Wisconsin Central alone, *' since any other course 
would cast suspicion upon the fairness and ingenuousness 
of his statements." During this period the interests of the 
state were presented in pamphlets,' pocket-maps, and 
especially in advertisements in the German papers; the 
latter method they found especially effective. Mr. Ken- 
nan wrote to the board - that its pamphlets, on account of 
their solid and reliable as well as semi-official character, had 
far more weight with intelligent people than the exagger- 
ated statements of most of the other states. A letter from 
Dresden, Saxony,' contains the following statement: "The 
state of Wisconsin with us stands high, though other 
western and southern states are sending out large quanti- 
ties of pamphlets. * * * Wisconsin is the pearl of all; she 
no doubt will be the favorite of the coming year. " 

The work of the board was also extended to assist, pro- 
tect, and advise immigrants, — telling them of the best 
routes, helping to regain lost baggage, preventing decep- 
tions, and even granting pecuniary aid to the needy. Its 
purpose was to obtain the most desirable class of emigrants, 
and with that in view the advertisements were inserted in 
carefully-selected papers, and those were advised not to 

' 20,000 German pamphlets and 9,000 copies of a pocket-map containing 
a short description of Wisconsin were printed in 1882, and largely dis- 
tributed in Germany. 

^ Immigration Report. Wis., 1881. p. 13. 

Ud., 1882, p. 12. 



34 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii. 

come whose former habits of living would unfit them for 
the new life. 

The country then open to settlement by the location of 
government, state, and railroad lands was north-central 
Wisconsin, and thither the immigrant was advised to go. 
From 1881 to 1884, as in 184G-54, multitudes of immigrants 
poured into Wisconsin, which again received a greater pro- 
portion than other states. In 1879, of the immigrants to 
Milwaukee 04.3 per cent went to other states, and 35.7 per 
cent remained in Wisconsin; in 1880, there went to other 
states 59.6 per cent, while 40.4 per cent remained; in 1881, 
only 46.3 per cent went to other states, while 53.7 per cent 
staid in Wisconsin. 



North- Central Wisconsin. 

The large German settlements situated in Shawano, 
Marathon, Lmcoln, Wood, Taylor, Price, and Ashland coun- 
ties have converted a dense, almost unknown forest into a 
productive and prosperous region. In Shawano and Mara- 
thon counties, including at first Lincoln county, the settle- 
ment has been a continuation of the process which settled 
the northeastern counties. The causes and character of the 
emigration have changed, but there also Germans have 
been attracted by forest lands at low prices. Settlement 
in north-central Wisconsin has in great part been made 
since 1860. In Shawano county, the southeastern part was 
first settled, since it was more accessible, the Wolf river be- 
ing then navigable by boats to Shawano, which was one 
end of the line of transportation from the Great Lakes and 
Mississippi river by water.' Marathon, too, was settled first 
in the eastern-central part, doubtless because the Wiscon- 
sin river flows through that region. No railroad reached 
either county until many years after settlement began, — 

' Erwerhs Quellen. Vorzi'ige und Erzeugnissewelche die Counties Brown, 
Door, Oconto and Shawano, im Staate Wisconsin dem Einwanderer bieten. 
Herausgegeben im Auftrage der County Behorden (Green Bay, 1870). 



iS/i-Qi-] Wisconsin's german element. 35 

that is, about 1874; ' but Shawano had wh^t the northern 
counties generally did not have — several government 
roads; the United States military road from Green Bay to 
Lake Superior cut Shawano county from east to west, and 
another government road ran from Shawano to Oshkosh.' 

In both Shawano and Marathon counties, the north-Ger- 
man — particularly the Pomeranian — element prevails. 
Settlement was gradual. Many were drawn thither by the 
fact that friends and relatives from the same village had 
preceded them, and also by the large German element al- 
ready in the state. 

The western part of Marathon county, and the counties 
of Wood, Taylor, Price, and Ashland, are cut by the Wis- 
consin Central railroad. In 1871 the road was completed to 
Stevens Point, and in 1877 to Ashland.' A grant of land 
was obtained from the government, including alternate 
sections within twenty miles of the road; while the re- 
mainder, retained by the government, was to be disposed 
of under the homestead law, or was withheld for a time for 
the benefit of the road. Much of this land has been sold 
and settled through the efforts of the railway agents. 

From 1880 to 1891, as above stated (p. 329), the Wisconsin 
Central Railroad Company's agent, Mr. Kennan, was like- 
wise the agent of the state, with an office at Basle, Switzer- 
land.* Through his exertions and those of the board, a 

' By 1874 the Wisconsin Valley railroad was constructed to Wausau along 
the river. Giles's "Wisconsin Railroads," in Sydner and Van Vechten's 
Hist. Atlas, of Wis. (Chicago, 1878), p. 168. 

' Other government roads are to be found in the eastern counties, which 
no doubt had some influence on the location of German settlements. A 
road ran from Green Bay to Manitowoc, thence to Milwaukee; another 
skirted Lake Winnebago, on the eastern shore; while another ran from 
Green Bay along the southern bank of the Fox, thence southwest through 
Winnebago and Green Lake counties to Portage; Fond du Lac, Watertown 
and Milwaukee were connected by yet another. — Wis. Hist. Coll.,xi., 
p. 229. 

'Giles's " Wisconsin Railroads," p. 167. 

'' The work which Mr. Kennan accomplished in Germany required great 
tact, since the German governments were making most strenuous efforts to 
prevent schemes for promoting emigration. 



36 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii. 

large number of emigrants were secured, of whom the ma- 
jority were from the forest lands of Bavaria, and settled, 
perhaps five thousand in all, along the Wisconsin Central 
railroad, from Stevens Point to Ashland. Many were in- 
duced to come by the fact that there was plenty of work, 
with excellent wages, to be had in the lumber camps of the 
northern regions. By this means a man could soon earn 
wages sufficient to enable him to buy land and build him a 
home. If he bought an uncleared farm, moreover, the 
wood that he felled could be sold for a good price: some- 
times sufficient, it is said, to enable him to pay for the land. 
A letter to the board of immigration from a German at 
Weimar, at this time, shows what conditions the Germans 
were in search of in America. He asks: 

"1. Is there homestead land to be had, with large tim- 
ber suitable for building? 

"2. Can employment be found? 

" 3. Is there any other way except by water, of bringing 
timber to market? 

" 4. What are the prices per acre? 

*' 5. How large are the taxes? 

" We should prefer a large tract of land near a navigable 
river, and well adapted to stock-raising."* 

For the benefit of settlers, special provisions were made 
by the Wisconsin Central railroad. In Medford, a house 
was provided to accommodate from seventy-five to one 
hundred people free of charge, for two weeks, with the use 
of a large cooking-stove.' 

There have been other influences instrumental in attract- 
ing German settlers to this region. A Milwaukee law 
firm, Johnson, Rietbrock & Halsey, owned a large tract of 
land in the western part of Marathon county. The town 
of Black Creek Falls was the result of their enterprise. 
About 1870 they laid out streets and built bridges, stores, 
work-shops, and mills, and induced a large number of 

^ Bienn. Rep. State Board of Immigration, Wis., 1883-84. 
* Der Staat Wisconsin, Seine Hit If squelle und Vorziigefiir Auswanderer. 
T'on K, K. Kennan (Basle, Schvveiz, n. d.). 



I1-83.] Wisconsin's German element. 



v)/ 



Germans to settle there, chiefly farmers' sons from the 
southern counties about Milwaukee." 

A paper was published in Milwaukee, called Der Ansied- 
ler, edited by Joseph Brucker, in the interests of the north- 
ern settlement, and it is said to have had a wide circula- 
tion, particularly in the state. In it>8L an interesting 
pamphlet was written by Mr. Ludloff, describing a trip 
through north-central Wisconsin, and the advantages 
which it possesses for German settlement. "Here," he 
writes, " Germans might learn to forget the fatherland, 
were that ever possible," for the forests, climate, trees, and 
animals of Wisconsin closely resemble those of Germany. 
"In no state of the Union do our people find themselves 
better off, or more at home, than in Wisconsin; here we 
find the old freedom of the people. " • Later, Mr. Brucker and 
Mr. Ludloff were copartners in a land agency at Medford. 

In 1J^83, Rev. W. Koch, from the mission school at Basle, 
wrote a pamphlet from Black Creek Falls, entitled. Wo 
find ich eine Heimath in der Fremde? He was interested 
with others in bringing the different immigrants together 
into a religious Evangelical community, and had selected 
favorable places in north-central Wisconsin for some one 
hundred and eighty families. " According to my esti- 
mate," he says, " the country along the Wisconsin Central 
railroad possesses all the advantages necessary to make 
it easy for immigrants, even those without means. For 
people of small means, there is scarcely another like it." 
The advantages were, that woodland was favorable, be- 
cause crops could be obtained for two years merely by 
harrowing; employment was to be had in the mills in win- 
ter; and the forests furnished building material and fuel. 
His appeal is especially to friends in Basle and Aargau. 

People from all Germanic countries, besides the Bava- 
rians, have come into this region: Swiss, Austrians, Sax- 
ons, Pomeranians. Some outlying German settlements 
are also found in the northwestern counties. 

' K. Ludloff's Amertkanische Reisebilder: Hkizzen iiber deu Staat Wis- 
consin (Milwvaukee, 1881), p. 56. 
■Ibid., p. 86. 



^S WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. [vol.xii. 

Thus, while our native American citizens were seeking 
the western prairies, where crops were easily produced 
during the first years, the timber regions of northern Wis- 
consin were sought by the energetic, hardy, and persever- 
ing Germans, who are willing to wait for success. The 
remarkable growth of this region, and the prosperity of the 
settlers, is good testimony as to the wisdom of their choice. 



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